Listener Crossword No 4368 -- The Name Of The Game By Harribobs

[jim360]

The preamble was enough for an early PDM, although I've not actually played the game properly before. Then it was a relatively speedy gridfill before I nervously attempted the endgame, dreading the randomness that was going to be a pain to check. In retrospect, I should have thought that our setter would have been more careful to ensure a proper finish, and so it proved.

Well done Harribobs, and a fine debut even if it was over fairly quickly.

[AHearer]

Yes, very pretty. I went astray in the endgame at first, through an incorrect interpretation of the fourth, fifth and sixth words of the instructions. It would have been clearer, to me at least, had the fourth word been plural. Good fun, though, so thanks to Harribobs.

[Ruthrobin]

Yes, thanks to Harribos for an attractive set of clues. Nowhere near so tough as his recent message board crossword. We are seeing some imaginative Harribos debuts these days.

[Contrarian]

V. nice endgame. Thanks Harribobs.

[Ruthrobin]

Sorry, of course I meant Harribobs. Drawing that spade in Jake's Treasure Hunt on the Crossword Centre message board was an equally impressive 'debut'.

[upsetter]

We liked this.
Although the gridfill was quick, the clues were all good fun to solve.
Luckily we found a program that enabled us to play the game without making what would otherwise have been inevitable errors.
For want of better instructions we are going to leave the grid filled with the original entries and highlight the remaining live cells and creator.

[olichant]

Jim, I think we had an almost identical solving experience. A theme which has always intrigued me (and for anyone who completes the puzzle and is equally intrigued, there are lots of great online resources to play with). Thanks, Harribobs!

Ruthrobin, your typo made me smile - I don't suppose it was a slightly Freudian slip?!

Hope everyone here has a lovely weekend.

[icynorth]

Another cleverly worked puzzle - thanks, Harribob.

I was also thwarted a few times at the end, but if there's one thing I've learned this year, it's that solutions are generally elegant, so it's worth persevering.

[petefoxes]

I liked this, but with a couple of reservations. The preamble doesn't specify how to represent the played game, and the instruction implies the endgame will take two ticks when apparently only one is required. Good fun though - thanks Harribobs.

[tramart]

Played the game in the '80s, and eventually got thoroughly sick of it. Never expected anyone would get a crossword out of it, nor that there would still be interest in it online.
Yet again resorted to Openoffice Calc to finish, which took roughly the same time as solving the clues.

[crosswhit99]

Yes, a nice puzzle but a great shame about the ambiguity on how many 'ticks' are involved. I am guessing that the setter really intends us to indicate G1 cells, but equally in the interest of fairness I suppose solutions with G2 cells will also be marked correct (or maybe I'm guessing wrongly and the 'pretty' solution is a devious trap for the unwary !!!)

[jim360]

Having read a little bit more about the Game I can see what people mean -- a shame that Harribobs overlooked this subtlety (probably!) but the final solution as I had it looked effective enough to forgive the slightly imprecise wording.

[crosswhit99]

Hope you are right Jim !

[British_Olympics]

I wouldn't be quite so confident jim360. The first readjustment may allude to the title and thereby lead the solver to the creator, but we are explicitly asked to shade the SECOND adjustment - this is The Listener, after all.

[Garaman]

Interesting conundrum; everything tells me that it is an error on the Listener's part, however, I don't see how one could be marked wrong for highlighting the second yet I do see how one could be for highlighting the first.

Enjoyed it though.

[crosswhit99]

Whether this is a deliberate trap or an honest mistake on the part of the setter and editor, the overriding principle should be fairness to the solver, which of course neither is. It's also a shame that the preamble doesn't state that the rules are applied simultaneously at the 'tick', as this is essential whichever solution was intended. I would suggest submitting 2 grids showing respective generations with a covering note to that effect.

[British_Olympics]

Sorry, but I fail to see any ambiguity - the instruction specifically requires that we indicate the second adjustment, so as Garaman points out, how could we possibly be marked wrong for doing so ?

[perseverer]

If the word ADJUSTMENT featured, there would be no problem!

Incidentally. has our desire to not give anything away in these threads rather slipped already here?

[doctormatt]

Hmmmm
Full grid, instructions, game and inventor identified. Maybe I'm being thick, but instruction seems ambiguous (not just g1/g2 point). Maybe it will come to me...

[JustinTime]

To circumvent the ambiguity:
Enter the G2 solution with the statement that this could not have been achieved without the G1 solution being correct.